The Big Picture
by maroon tide
Summary: In which the Captain lectures her officers, Tom argues that waffles are not for dinner, and Harry muses on seeing the big picture. A JP fic from Harry's POV. Suggested C7 and KTal. One-shot.


Title: The Big Picture

Author: Maroon Tide

Category: J/P (hinted C/7 & K/Tal); Harry's POV

Summary: In which the Captain lectures her officers, Tom argues that waffles are not for dinner, and Harry muses on seeing the big picture.

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek Voyager, the Voyager Characters, or any part of Star Trek. I am not making any profit from writing this; I do it solely for my own enjoyment.

* * *

My neck hurt. Standing at attention required a very stiff neck held at a precise angle and to let one's neck relax in serious circumstances such as these would be considered no less than insubordination. Insubordination or neck pain? Tough choice.

The Captain's voice brought me back to the present. "The four of you have been found guilty of causing a public disturbance in a local bar by becoming intoxicated, then by insulting a civilian, and then by giving him a concussion by hitting him over the head with…a Starfleet regulation boot." She paused and rubbed at her temples. Somewhat exasperated, she asked "Do you have anything to say for yourselves?"

Tom spoke up, "Captain, the man was making sexual advances on Tal, so I told him to knock it off."

Michael chimed in, "And he started to get rough with us. He made slurs at Tal and shoved Harry and I couldn't just stand by and watch!"

"So you maimed him with a shoe?" Janeway deadpanned. I groaned, half due to my hangover, half due to this outrageously stupid story.

"Ensign Kim, do you have something to say?"

"Uh, no Ma'am. Except that what they're saying is, um, true."

Janeway dropped her face into her hands and sighed heavily. "This is conduct unbecoming of Starfleet officers." Wearily, she handed out our consequences. "You are all confined to quarters for two days. Your shore leave privileges are hereby revoked for the remainder of our time at Kaatar. Do not let this happen again. Understood?"

"Yes Captain."

"Good. Dismissed." She paused. "Mister Paris, Mister Kim."

"Yes Ma'am?"

Michael and Tal exited the ready room.

I stood stock-still and Tom fidgeted. We both expected the standard "I expect better of my senior officers" lecture. And Tom and I have both heard this lecture quite a few times now, though I'm sure his count outnumbers mine. But no matter how many times you hear it, you're still nervous, still holding your breath in the silence before she speaks. I think she can smell the fear.

She looked at Tom, and then at me. I'm always surprised when I look in her eyes. They're always filled with concern. It's rare to see the anger flash in her eyes. I've only seen it a few times. Tom… Tom might not use the word 'rare' as easily as I do. But then again, he has a penchant for getting into trouble.

"I expect more from you. You are _senior officers_…"

Ah, here we go.

"…supposed to be setting an example for this crew…"

Tom's probably got this memorized by now. I've got enough of it down that I tend to tune out in the middle. You can't expect me to be the attentive little ensign all the time, can you? I've learned that you have to step back every once and a while; stop listening for just a second and look at what's going on around you. There's so much to miss when you don't pay attention to the small things.

For instance, you might miss Neelix sneaking cookies to Naomi while her mother is chatting with Seven.

Or you might miss Chakotay glancing at Seven every couple of minutes from across the mess hall, and trying to pass it off as a neck twitch.

"You should go have your neck checked out, Commander."

"Wha—what? Oh, my neck. Yes, I should—seems to have a twitch…"

You might not notice that Tom replicates Chinese food every time he falls for a girl. Pork-fried rice and sesame chicken. And egg rolls.

You might miss B'Elanna humming very softly while she runs her warp-core diagnostics. Or you might not notice Tal blushing every time she comes within twelve feet of me.

Yes, I've noticed that.

Now, if you keep a general eye out, you'll easily notice how the Captain's hand very often finds its way to Tom's arm or shoulder. You might even see her thumb lightly knead the knots in his muscles. But if you didn't stop and watch them, just for a second, while everyone else was focused intently on their consoles, you wouldn't notice how Tom trembles, every time she touches him.

"Do I make myself clear, gentlemen?"

Ah, my timing is impeccable. The captain's said so herself, before. And then she winked at me, but I'm not sure anyone else noticed. That was a long time ago.

"Yes Captain."

Her voice was calm. "Dismissed."

She locked eyes with me, and gave a little glimpse of a smile. That little smile that lets us know she's more amused with the situation than she is angry with us. And then she reached up and quickly gave Tom's arm a little squeeze. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him tremble, every so slightly.

I'm so good at this.

We walk out of the ready room calm, cool, and collected. My neck doesn't hurt anymore, but my stomach is growling. Ah, replicator food tonight.

"I'm thinking waffles tonight. I'm hungry."

"Waffles for dinner, Harry? That's just wrong." He's got that boyish grin on his face again. Same old Tom.

"Why is that wrong? What's wrong with having waffles for dinner?"

"Waffles are meant to be for breakfast, Harry."

"Alright, then. Give me a better idea. What are you having?"

"Ah, I've got a big craving for Chinese food, I think. Egg rolls, fried rice."

His grin turns into a smile, and I wonder if he notices.

Damn, I'm good at this.


End file.
